Re-engineering Patient Safety -- Application of human factors and safety systems principles:
Despite considerable investment and
advances in patient safety, there are still hundreds of thousands of patients
being harmed by medical error each year. A different way of thinking is
required to ‘move the needle’ on patient safety. Human factors approaches
underpin current patient safety and quality improvement science, offering an
integrated, evidenced, and coherent approach to patient safety, quality
improvement, and clinical excellence. Human factors rests on a systems approach
— one must examine the human, interactions, and inter-dependencies within a
larger system in order to optimize performance. The system-wide adoption of
these concepts offers a unique opportunity to support cultural change and
empower clinicians to put patient safety and clinical excellence at the center
of their work. Human factors and systems safety focus on re-designing work as opposed
to re-designing the human who does the work. Incorporating a human factors and
systems safety approach allows for the development and integration of
knowledge, skills and attitudes that facilitate successful performance at the
front lines of care. This approach will help identify safe, sustainable and
resilient solutions.